CEO Today UK Awards 2021

24 CEO TODAY UNITED KINGDOM AWARDS 2021 Energy change the way our networks are configured and managed, which is a challenge in itself. But now we are starting to see growth in demand for electricity too. Over the last five to 10 years, demand has actually dropped as people have put in more efficient white goods in their homes like fridges and microwaves and LED light bulbs. But now we are starting to see demand growth as people start to switch to electric vehicles, electric heat and other low carbon technology. Electric heat is certainly now common in new tower blocks, and we are starting to see real growth in the uptake of heat pumps and electric vehicles. This is set to increase further as government bring in new legislation to encourage cleaner energy, like the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and the ban on traditional gas boilers in new-build properties by 2025. We are finding that meeting customers’ needs is more challenging as electricity becomes more important and central to their lives. 10 or 15 years ago, electricity kept the lights on and it kept some of your appliances working in the home, but when it is starting to power your car, home computers, iPhones and everything else, electricity becomes critical. Now, if supplies are lost through a fault or planned work it is more than just an inconvenience. What does customer service mean in a regulated monopoly? In many ways being almost invisible is the best service we can provide for most of what we do. We want to provide a reliable service where people do not have faults or supply disruptions. In fact, our region has the second-most reliable network in the UK after Central London. But having said that, if things go wrong and supplies are lost, then we need to provide a rapid response on a 24/7 basis. We also have to make connections, so when people are building new property or making service alterations, we need to make it as easy and pain-free for the customer as possible. I think that is why the low-carbon transition is challenging for us because we are getting more and more new connections and service alterations as people hook up new low-carbon technology to the network. The other area that is growing for us is where customers are looking for impartial advice on what low-carbon options are available. As a regulated monopoly, we are asked to provide impartial advice, help them with their choices and advise them on how to install new equipment. The other growth area is supporting customers who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances, particularly when things go wrong – so if they lose electricity, if they have health issues or medical equipment at home that relies on electricity, we collaborate with other providers and services to make sure they get the support they need. For us, that is what good customer service is about. In fact, we are measured on this regularly by Ofgem. They conduct surveys of all our customers, and we average a customer satisfaction score of 9 out of 10. We are very proud of that and it is something that the business works hard to maintain. How do you work with others in your region? We collaborate a lot. If you take our area in the North West, we have the Combined Authority in Manchester and the county councils of Lancashire and Cumbria. We collaborate with those organisations to help inform their decision-making, deploy resources to support them where we can, and make our long-term plans based on their needs. We also create position papers to help them understand how they can tackle the low-carbon challenge in their areas. We also work with other utilities – we work with the gas networks and National Grid to collaborate on how we can speed up the low-carbon transition at low cost. We also collaborate with manufacturers both regionally and across the UK to help support our innovation programmes. We collaborate a lot with charities like Citizens Advice and others, often pointing people in their direction. We can leverage these relationships and help finance them, this gives them some stability of funding, which helps the charities thrive and helps us provide a good service for our customers. Finally, we liaise with the emergency services. Quite often we are working with the police or the fire brigade, either in an emergency or in something like the pandemic, where coordination is helpful. Can you tell us about what the biggest environmental challenge you face as a business and what you are doing to decarbonise Electricity North West? Our biggest challenge as an electricity “10 or 15 years ago, electricity kept the lights on and it kept some of your appliances working in the home, but when it is starting to power your car, home computers, iPhones and everything else, electricity becomes critical.”